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Anne V Opens Up on Body Issues & Her First Modeling Job

Anne Vyalistsyna covers the latest issue of Ocean Drive. As well as posing for an editorial inside the magazine, Anne also sits down for an interview with the magazine, speaking for the first time on battling her body issues and landing her first job as a model.

Her first modeling job:

"It was one of those dreams I never thought would come true. Every kid has an unrealistic like, 'I'm going to be an astronaut,' but no one becomes one. I know it sounds so cliched, but I never thought I was pretty. I was the tallest in my class and very skinny, and no boys liked me. I was at a casting at IMG, and they asked me to do a modeling contest. I had never done anything. And the only way my mom would let me do it was if she came with me. I twas my first time on a plane, and I didn't speak any English. It was also my first time in a five-star hotel, so I was just psyched I was somewhere else. My mom met all the model; Gisele was part of the show... Heidi Klum... she was like, 'This is actually not so bad!'"

Her weight issues:

"When I was 18, I put on a lot of weight because I was eating pizza and pasta, and I didn't know how to handle it. I never ate salads in Russia; we didn't have salads.The only salads we had were with tons of mayo in them. It was really hard, and I've battled with it for many years."

How modeling can affect young models:

"For the young girls, it's an industry that makes you not very confident. You'll hear things like, 'Not pretty enough.' 'Too fat.' 'Too skinny.' 'Your nose is too big.'I learned how to deal with it, but I'm 27 years old and I know how hard it is when I was 18 years old to deal with those things. I was a child."

Her image insecurities:

"I've been modeling for 12 years and I can do it with my eyes closed. I know I'm pretty. But there are a lot of things that I don't like about myself. I wish I wasn't this white. I never get tan. I wish I could eat everything and not put on weight. Sometimes I wish I didn't have freckles."